Bad experience with tongue bite

bprivateaerdric · Jul 1, 2017

I've been reading and I think I am talking about bite and not burn.
What it feels like is something between red pepper burn and raw onion burn. Although it is strong on the tip of my tongue, it also extends to my upper palate and my gums and cheeks.
What happened is that I smoked way too much. I had two days with nothing else to do, and I got three pipes in the mail. A small meerschaum and two of the Shire Cobbits. So I smoked each of them twice in addition to my regular smoke after meals, and woke up in the morning with a seriously burned mouth. My tongue was burned for half it's length and my palate and the back of my mouth felt like strep throat. My lips, tongue and palate were swollen, red, and itchy.
I went three days without smoking and just tried again, (I got in one of those Lepeltier ceramics), and on the first puff to get it lit, my whole mouth was stinging like I had tried to bite a habanero. Still stings and my lips feel puffy

.
Have I made myself allergic to tobacco? Can I ever go back to moderate smoking? Did I just spend several hundred dollars on a hobby I can't continue?
Any comments appreciated.

jpmcwjr · Jul 1, 2017

What are you smoking? How are you preparing it?
Possibly breaking in three new pipes at once could be a factor, but meers and cobs should be easier than briars.

wyfbane · Jul 1, 2017

Sounds like your kids put cayenne in your tobacco stash to stop you from smoking pipes...
Seriously though, I have never experienced that sort of thing on first puff. Are you using a torch to light your pipe? If so, use matches.
If you are allergic (it does happen), then you have my deepest condolences.

bprivateaerdric · Jul 1, 2017

I'm smoking my regular stash, called "mild and mellow" but with no real info about the source. I use a butane lighter, but not a turbo torch. I might try matches after a couple more days of not smoking...
LOL@ cayenne in my tobacco. If my son was reading this, I might have to look out for him next time he visits.

Chasing Embers · Jul 1, 2017

Get some Biotene mouthwash to take the sting out.

bprivateaerdric · Jul 1, 2017

OK, chasingembers, I've just ordered some and will see how that goes. I also have some "Carter Hall" that I bought but haven't tried. I might try smoking some in the meerschaum to see if it burns as bad.

Chasing Embers · Jul 1, 2017

Also practice smoking extremely slow. Almost to the point of the ember going out. Keep that fire as cool as possible.

prairiedruid · Jul 1, 2017

Biotene +1000

bprivateaerdric · Jul 1, 2017

What I've been doing for speed is to take three deep breaths between each draw with a 5 minute break between three draws. That makes about one draw a minute and three over 8 minutes (I actually timed it after someone said I was smoking too fast). The pipe often goes out. But I think maybe my draw is too large. I completely fill my mouth with smoke. I puff puff, then take a slow, 3-5 second draw, then blow it out over another 3-5 seconds. I'm going to try the Carter Hall now.
Yeah, it was bad. At one point, I almost went into the doctor. I thought my throat was going to close up.

pipesmokingtom · Jul 1, 2017

I thought my throat was going to close up.

This is not normal.

bprivateaerdric · Jul 1, 2017

PipesmokingTom, I was pretty sure it wasn't but thanks for verifying my impression.
Of course, my throat did not close up, but the soreness was so acute I thought it might. I'll be careful, because I know that allergies can start out of nowhere, then get very bad very quickly.

Chasing Embers · Jul 1, 2017

The "Breath Smoking" technique may be of help to you.
Breath Smoking

tozert · Jul 2, 2017

My mouth is really sensitive, and if I try smoking more than one bowl a day my mouth starts to feel tender. I can get away with two bowls on the weekends if I keep to small bowls and smoke more slowly. Less can be more, in that I would love to smoke more, but being forced to limit my smoking due to sensitive palate makes me enjoy it more. After you mouth fully recovers, try slow smoking just one bowl a day for awhile and see how that goes.

obidonkenobi · Jul 2, 2017

Though not nearly as bad or extreme sounding as in your case, when I first started smoking (earlier this year) I got what I thought was pretty bad chemically-induced bite from some old Captain Black Gold (a fairly good quality aromatic) I bought back in the 80's. I bought the Biotene mouth spray (that didn't help), but found two things: 1) If I waited several days, maybe even a week, for my mouth to "heal" (all trace of the burn feeling in the tongue, gone, and the skin on the roof of my mouth returned back to being smooth and normal), and 2) I smoked slower, and most importantly, when I drew the smoke into my mouth, I directed the smoke into the middle cavity of my mouth, and not onto my tongue or the roof of my mouth, I got almost no tongue bite, and the skin on the roof of my mouth stayed smooth and normal, without any pain. It was quite a difference.
So, in my case, what I thought was chemical burn actually turned out to be physical burn. Oh, it also helped for me to dry the tobacco out some (not completely, though). It was originally pretty "wet" or moist, and when you burn overly wet/moist tobacco, it produces steam, which can burn you.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

bprivateaerdric · Jul 2, 2017

@obidonkenobi, I'm still wondering about the difference between heat burn, chemical burn, and allergy. Concentrated smoke can increase (it seems to me) any of those where the smoke is directed. But only with chemical burn and allergy can it burn where the smoke stream is not directed, such as the insides of my cheeks or the outsides of my gums.
I wear upper plate dentures, and it seemed to mask the effect somewhat, but not completely. My upper palate was severely inflamed behind the dentures, but still somewhat inflamed underneath them. That could be my whole mouth responding in a kind of sympathy, or more a sign of allergy than chemical or heat. I do keep the button about 1/2 inch inside of my teeth, directed towards the hollow of my mouth, as advised by the guy at the tobacco store.
But I am going to try smoking one bowl a day as @tozert suggests, until I am sure I'm not making things worse.

bprivateaerdric · Jul 2, 2017

@chasingembers, that is interesting, and somewhat as I have been doing, but removing the pipe from my mouth during the alternate breaths, and taking more breaths. The blowing out is something I only do occasionally, since it seems to make a really hot fire.
I think the actual problem came from the new cobs. I was trying to make sure the bottom charred well so I smoked a short pack but might have oversmoked the bottom, drawing more often than I should have.

cshubhra · Jul 2, 2017

Smoke slowly - it is more important that a draw is a small sip, compared to spacing between large draws.

Don't fight the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl - if it does not light, throw it away. As a beginner most of my tongue bites were at the bottom of the bowl, so whenever I feel it is an effort to keep it lit or taste ashes, I just throw it away.

cshubhra · Jul 2, 2017

Also a tip from GL Pease Website - and as a beginner I concur 100%
It is a wrong advice to start a beginner with mild blends. They will not get much taste, and puff like an engine to cause tongue bites. It is better to start with a full bodied tobacco, which will still give some taste, and force a beginner to smoke slow.

bprivateaerdric · Jul 2, 2017

Well, see, that might be my issue. I do take long, slow, but large draws that fill my whole mouth, and partly because small puffs are unsatisfying. Maybe more flavor will change that somewhat.

jpmcwjr · Jul 2, 2017

I'm smoking my regular stash, called "mild and mellow" but with no real info about the source. I use a butane lighter, but not a turbo torch. I might try matches after a couple more days of not smoking...

I'd say the tobacco is somewhat suspect! Can you source out something else? Is it a Virginia, English, or aromatic?
Method of lighting is simply this: depending on the heat of the source, move it further away from the tobacco as you light or relight. You want to start the ember as gently as you can.

Bad experience with tongue bite

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